Where to Do Research in Salem A Brief Guide for the Beginner Salem Historical Society Assembled by David Moffat Spring 2016 Salem Historical Society | 9 North Street, Salem | salemmahistory.org | [email protected] CONTENTS Introduction In Salem The Phillips Library (Peabody Essex Museum) Salem Public Library - Salem History Room Salem Athenæum Essex County Registry of Deeds Historic Salem, Inc. The House of the Seven Gables The Witch House Cemeteries (in rough chronological order) Other Historic Houses Outside of Salem Beverly Historical Society Danvers Archival Center, The Peabody Institute Library of Danvers The Essex Society of Genealogists Lynn Museum & Historical Society Marblehead Museum & Historical Society Historic New England Massachusetts State Archives & Massachusetts Historical Commission The Massachusetts Historical Society Cemeteries (in neighboring communities) - Beverly Danvers Lynn Marblehead Peabody Swampscott 1 Introduction For those doing research on the ground in Salem, there are a number of resources available, so many so that it can be confusing. This guide is intended to give a quick overview of places to conduct re- search in Salem, what can be found in them, and how to contact the establishments. Included also are several locations outside of Salem with collections that bear some significance to the history of Salem, including communities which were once part of Salem, communities which border Salem, and archives pertaining to all of Massachusetts. Figure 1: The Phillips Library, April 2015 2 In Salem The Phillips Library (Peabody Essex Museum) The Phillips Library is currently the best place to do research in Salem, as it has the combined archives of the Essex Institute and the Peabody Museum of Salem which merged in 1992 to form the Peabody-Essex Museum. The library’s official location, Plummer Hall on Essex Street, has been closed for renovations since 2011. Currently the collections can be accessed at a temporary location at 1 Second Street, Peabody, Massachusetts. This reading room can be accessed on Wednesdays and Thursdays between 10 and 4:30 PM. Researchers can also apply for “Visiting Researcher” status using an application on the Peabody Essex Museum website, which allows them to make appointments to use the collections on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. There are papers from the witchcraft trials, documents relating to Nathaniel Hawthorne, a large collection of early photographs of Salem, and ship logs and registers from the Great Age of Sail. An overview of the library’s specialties can be found at http://pem.org/library/ collections/subject_strengths. Queries can be directed to [email protected] or 978-745-9500 ext. 3053. Figure 2: The Phillips Library, April 2015 3 Figure 3: The Salem History Room, January 2016 Salem Public Library - Salem History Room Located on the third floor of the Salem Public Library, at 370 Essex Street, to use the Salem History Room, one need only ask the librarian at the desk at the top of the stairs for permission, which is quickly granted if the room is available. The virtue of the Salem History Room is a large collection on published works relating to the history of Salem gathered in one place. There are a number of Salem Directories, city documents, genealogies, registers of Revolutionary War soldiers, the vital records of various towns, and a great number of books on Salem architecture and Nathaniel Hawthorne. There are also the Lists of Polls or “nosy books,” which list the residents at various properties registered to vote each year from 1935 to the present. 4 Salem Athenæum A private membership library based on the collection of Richard Kirwin captured by a Salem privateer in 1780. The library today has over 50,000 volumes. There are some resources about Salem history. Arrangements to research there can be directed at 978-744-2540. The Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds Located on Congress Street in the Shetland Park industrial park, research inquiries can be addressed by speaking to the clerks at the front desk or by calling 978-542-1704. However, the entire collections of the registry are located online and can be accessed at http://salemdeeds.com. To do historical research, use the Pre-1979 Indices. Sometimes the page numbers aren’t perfectly accurate, but if you go several pages before and after, you can find the deeds you need. Historic Salem, Inc. Historic Salem, Inc. is a preservation organization dating back to 1944. Their office is the Nathaniel Bowditch House at 9 North Street, behind The Witch House. The primary resource at Historic Salem, Inc. are house histories, of which there are 33 binders, with research ranging from 1966 to the present day. The histories were prepared for historic plaques and vary in their information. Many of the earliest contain scans from deeds, scans from Atlases and Sanborn Fire Maps, and plans of property lines. Others have reference to Salem directories. Some of the later histories are more narrative. Currently they are unarchived. The Salem Historical Society is working with Historic Salem, Inc. to digitize and publicize the contents of the histories. They can be contacted at 978-745-0799. 5 Figure 4: The grounds of The House of the Seven Gables, February 2015 The House of the Seven Gables The archives at The House of the Seven Gables pertain only to The Gables and its residents (The Turner, Ingersoll, and Upton Families), its founder (Caroline Emmerton), and its literary associate (Nathaniel Hawthorne) and his family. There are a number of manuscripts by Caroline Emmerton, the founder of The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association, some documents associated with Judge John Hathorne and photographs of Salem’s Pioneer Village, once owned by The Gables. There is also a sizable collection of decorative pieces spanning periods from 1650 to 1870. Questions about the collection and researching them can be directed to the Collections Care Specialist, Kristen Cunha, at kcunha@7gables. org or by calling 978-744-0991 x123. 6 The Witch House The Witch House, at the intersection of North Street and Essex Street has some research material- several binders of copied information- mostly floor plans and plans for reconstructions of certain parts of the house, but all of the original documents are from the City of Salem. The primary resource at The Witch House are the guides, who are well educated in the history of the Witchcraft trials and witchcraft beliefs. Figure 5: The Witch House, July 2015 7 Cemeteries (in rough chronological order) - Old Burying Ground, 51 Charter Street Established 1637 Earliest extant stone: 1673 Essex Street Cemetery (Friends Burial Ground), 396 1/2 Essex Street Established c. 1700 Earliest extant stone: 1702 St. Peter’s Episcopal Cemetery, 24 St. Peter Street Figure 6: The Howard Street Cemetery, January 2015 8 Howard Street Cemetery, Harmony Grove Cemetery, 29 Howard Street, 30 Grove Street Established 1801 Established 1840 Broad Street Cemetery, St. Mary’s Cemetery, 5 Broad Street 226 North Street Established 1655 Established 1849 Earliest extant stone: 1685 Greenlawn Cemetery, 57 Orne Street, Established 1807 Figure 7: Captain John Bertram Memorial, Harmony Grove Cemetery, 1882, September 2015 9 Other Historic Houses There are a great number of houses in Salem of historic value, spread out across the entire city. They can be an overlooked source of research information. When it comes to photographing historic buildings for research, a good guide is available online from Marvin Bartel, a Professor Emeritus from Goshen College, which is available at https://people.goshen.edu/~marvinpb/archit.htm. Figure 8: Derby House, 1762, February 2016 10 Outside of Salem Beverly Historical Society The Beverly Historical Society is located in the John Cabot House at 117 Cabot Street in Beverly, right across the Beverly-Salem Bridge from Salem. Beverly was part of Salem until 1668, and Beverly’s history afterwards has direct bearing on the history of Salem. The research library there is open Tuesday and Saturday, 9:30-4 PM, and Wednesday 1-9 PM. There is a $10 research fee. Their website is http://www. beverlyhistory.org/. Danvers Archival Center, The Peabody Institute Library of Danvers Danvers was part of Salem for even longer than Beverly, until 1757. The collections of Danvers history from the Danvers Historical Society are located at the Danvers Archival Center, in the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers, located at 15 Sylvan Street in Danvers. Research is by appointment only. They can be reached at 978-774-0554. It is approximately a 15 minute drive from Salem. Their website is http://www. danverslibrary.org/archive/. The Essex Society of Genealogists The Essex Society of Genealogists is an association of professional and amateur genealogists interested in the genealogy of Essex County, Massachusetts. Its headquarters are at the Lynnfield Public Library. Research can be done in the Marcia Wiswall Lindberg Room, which has about 3000 volumes of genealogies and town histories. The Lynnfield Public Library is located at 18 Summer Street in Lynnfield. It is approximately a 20 minute drive from Salem. Their website is http://www.esog.org/. 11 Lynn Museum & Historical Society While Lynn was its own town in the 17th century, rather than a part of Salem, it did border the original boundaries of Salem directly to the south. The history of Lynn is important to the history of Salem and Essex County. The Lynn Museum & Historical Society has an extensive collection relating to the history of Lynn. They receive research requests exclusively online. Their archives are located in Peabody with the collection of the Phillips Library. It is approximately a 20 minute drive from Salem. Their website is http://lynnmuseum.org/. Research requests can be found at http://lynnmuseum.org/about/research. Marblehead Museum & Historical Society Marblehead was its own community very early on, in 1629, but it is a community intimately linked to Salem in its history.